A conventional technique for treating hip diseased hip joints involves the replacement of the patients diseased hip joint by the substitution of a prosthetic hip joint having a pin which is anchored by cement in the femur cavity to secure the hip joint to the femur. When fitting the joint, the top of the femur in the region of the trabeculae is cut open and the bone marrow removed through the top opening by a scooping and suction technique, emptying the bone cavity or medullary canal for the receipt of the pin and a two-part epoxy cement injected into the cavity through the top opening to spread around the pin using a gun, similar in construction to a caulking gun. Caps of various selected sizes are required to be fitted around the gun nozzle to seal the top opening during injection in an attempt to permit a relatively modest pressure increase to perhaps 2-3 p.s.i. in an attempt to completely fill all interstices around the pin.
However, the pin is made of titanium which is much harder than the cement and as a result of the difference in hardness, after the joint has been in use for a number of years, typically about 10 years, hairline cracks or interstices develop at the interface of the titanium pin and epoxy cement. The conventional remedy has required that the entire joint (pin) be removed and replaced which is effectively a repeat of the earlier procedure which is an undesirable major operation.
It is also known to completely fill a medullary canal with cement through an opening cut in the bone in the upper end for the treatment of osteoporosis.
Examples of devices and mechanisms previously used to instal the artificial joint are described in the catalogue of Stryker Instruments, MI, PT No 1000-119 rev C; PT. NO. 1000-310 REV B1; BP NO 1000-340 for their bone preparation systems, third generation cementing technique and cement injection system.